Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Malayalam actor-producer Aju Varghese on Tuesday was arrested for publicly naming the survivor, who was kidnapped and allegedly ***ually assaulted in a moving car in Kochi earlier this year. He was later let off by the Kalamaserry police on the station bail.

A complaint filed by one Gireesh Babu, a Kalamassery native, led to Aju's arrest. His arrest was recorded after the Kerala High Court refused to entertain the actor's plea to quash the proceedings against him based on the complaint. He even submitted an affidavit from the survivor that said she has no interest in pressing charges against her 'friend'.

However, the court refused to accept his arguments and observed that submitting an affidavit from the victim about his or her unwillingness not to pursue charges was not a ground for relieving the accused of the charges.

Following which, the police booked Aju under the IPC 228 (A), which prevents revealing the identity of the victim and subsequently arrested him.

In July, he was grilled at Kalamassery station during which the actor's iPhone, which was used to post the controversial social media post, was also seized.

Before the arrest of Malayalam superstar Dileep in the case, Aju has defended the former even as he named the survivor in his Facebook post. While describing the crime against his woman colleague as "unpardonable," he had claimed that there was a deliberate attempt to frame Dileep for the crime that he did not commit. Later, he removed the name of the actress from the controversial post but not before drawing criticisms.

Dileep has been lodged in Aluva Sub Jail for more than 50 days after he was arrested on July 10 on various counts of criminal charges including gang-rape. During initial days of the investigation, when Dileep's name cropped up in the media and the police investigation, many industry's heavy-weights had come to his defence. However, almost everyone disowned his friendship after he was arrested in the case.